What is recorded here

Mud and hunger drove them to that house, where carpentry skills bought bread and shelter. The Almshouse in Unknown Townland still stands with two huge chimney stacks piercing its roof, proving it existed before the 18th century. It faced Arbour Hill with a single bay front, timber paneled door and round-headed fanlight, while its longer body stretched east and west behind the facade. Poor carpenters and their widows likely lived there, receiving aid in exchange for work or age. The name appears in local sources as Carpenter's Alms-houses and Carpenters Widdows House, tying the building to a craft, a charity and a time when Dublin still set aside rooms for the displaced.

Three-storey over basement gable fronted house facing onto Arbour Hill, with a hipped roof to the front and pitched roof behind. The front elevation is single bay with superimposed windows over timber paneled door framed by a simple flat architrave surmounted by a round-headed fanlight. This facade is brick beneath render finish with an angle on the NE corner. The E elevation is four bay while the W facade is solid save for a single bay with two small windows at the N end and two-storey return at the S end. Two huge chimney stacks pierce the roof demonstrating evidence of pre-18th century origins of the house. On Rocque (Rocque J, 1756) there is a large building shown with a long axis running parallel to Arbour Hill rather than at right angles as this building is. The latter structure is referred to as the 'Carpenters Widdows House'. On Thom's 1750 Directory it is listed as ' Carpenter's Alms-houses'. Compiled by: Margaret Keane Updated on: 5 January 2018

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